Justice Action: Access to our community

We have been battling for access to our community with our publications

NSW: Justice Action went to the NSW Supreme Court before the last Federal election on the constitutional right for prisoners to receive information for their vote. The government avoided the hearing by bringing prisoners' mobile polling booths forward. We pursued it after the election. This is the report.

NSW Prison Commissioner of Corrective Services Mr Ron Woodham has dropped his ban on Justice Action publications.

Kingsford Legal Centre corresponded with Mr Woodham's office following the Supreme Court action challenging the banning of The Australian Prisoners' Election Newspaper in NSW prisons.

We submitted a slightly altered version of the national newspaper for prisoners, to make it specific to NSW. The paper was submitted asserting the protection of the Constitutional right of Australian citizens to receive political information in order to cast an informed vote at elections.

The Department tried to stall, taking 3 months to respond to the submission of the draft newspaper. Only when Kingsford set a deadline, after which we would again take them to court, did Mr Woodham respond.

He said,

"I note that the editorial section of the submitted 'newspaper' contains a number of provocative and misleading comments... While it is arguable that some of the material does not consist of communication about government or political matters, I have no objection to the content of the majority of the newspaper... It is not my intention to place a ban on this newspaper but I insist that only those individuals who expressly indicate their interest in receiving a copy of the newspaper be sent one."

This is an important precedent, allowing even 'provocative and misleading' material.

We are now contacting prisoners to organise for internal distribution.

Below is the full text of Woodham's response, with his attached analysis of the newspaper.

Justice Action
65 Bellevue St, Glebe, NSW 2037, Australia
P.O. Box 386, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
ja@justiceaction.org.au
voice: 612-9660 9111 fax: 612-9660 9100

Please log into the Justice Action Web site, designed and sponsored by
Breakout Design & Print, exercising good corporate citizenship:

New South Wales Government
Department of Corrective Services

Ms Joanne Moffitt
Principal Solicitor
Kingsford Legal Centre
11 Rainbow Street
KINGSFORD NSW 2032

Dear Ms Moffitt,

I refer to your letters of 23 February 2005 10 March 2005 and previous correspondence on behalf of Justice Action in which yo have sought my permission for copies of the 'Australian Prisoners Election newspaper' to be distributed to inmates in NSW correctional centres. I understand that your client is now only seeking approval in relation to pages 1 to 4 of this newspaper.

I note that the editorial section of the submitted 'newspaper' contains a number of provocative and misleading comments and also invites inmates to submit "Écommentary, personal accounts, short stories and letters to the editor on any topic". This is inconsistent with the purported purpose of the paper which according to your correspondence is to "provide prisoners with political information relevant to their right to vote". I can only conclude that the real intention of this publication is to provide inmates with a vehicle for criticism of the Department of Corrective Services and to circumvent the ban that I have imposed on the distribution of 'Framed'.

While it is arguable that some of the material does not consist of communication about government or political matters, I have no objection to the content of the majority of the newspaper and have attached comments in relation to the individual sections. I am however not prepared to arrange for the distribution of this newspaper to all inmates in NSW correctional centres.

It is not my intention to place a ban on this newspaper but I insist that only those individuals who expressly indicate their interest in receiving a copy of the newspaper be sent one. I also reserve my decision in relation to any future issues of the newspaper and require your clients to submit these for consideration should your client wish them to be approved for distribution to, or otherwise made available to inmates in NSW correctional centres.

Yours Sincerely

(signature)

RON WOODHAM
Commissioner
23 March 2005

Encl.

1 Editorial....The editorial lies outside the scope of political discussion and parts of its content is provocative in its reference to:

* "I see no criminals, I see before me political prisoners" (paragraph 1)
Comment: The Department would not accept that it detains political prisoners

* Labor party banning distribution of this newspaper (paragraph4)
Comment: Any decision to allow distribution of this newspaper to inmates is departmental

* "(Labor-appointed) prison Commissioner decide that prisoners are better off without one specific human rightÉ "(paragraph5)
Comment: Statement incorrect and provocative

* ..."if you're freezing and starving alone in your cell in the High Risk Management Unit" (paragraph6)
Comment: The Department would not accept that it detains inmates without adequate clothing or food

* (the newspaper) "will include articles, commentary, poetry, personal accounts, short stories and letters to the editor on any topic "(paragraph9)
Comment: It is apparent that the newspaper intends to carry articles, which lie outside the scope of political discourse

* Reference to "The Prisoner's Paper"
Comment: It would appear that this publication is intended to replace "Framed" as a vehicle for criticism of the Department

Suggested Action: Justice Action be advised that in its current format the editorial is unacceptable

Every Vote Sacred? No issues of concern identified
Inmate voting cartoon No issues of concern identified

2 Greens Advertisement No issues of concern identified
Australian Democrats Advertisement There is no authorisation from the Australian Democrats to validate its authenticity. However no issues of concern identified in relation to content

Socialist Alliance Advertisement. There is no authorisation from the Socialist Alliance to validate its authenticity. However no issues of concern identified
How to vote if you're a prisoner No issues of concern identified

3 Helping Communities Fight Crime. There is no authorisation from 'the Coalition' to validate its authenticity. However no issues of concern identified in relation to content

Labor's Plan to protect and strengthen human rights in Australia. There is no authorisation from Labor to validate its authenticity. However no issues of concern identified in relation to content

Have you been sentenced for a federal crime? No issues of concern identified

Q&A: Prisoners ask why? There is no authorisation from the political parties to validate the authenticity of answers provided however no issues of concern identified in relation to content

4 Q&A Continued. In response to the final question, the Socialist Alliance response makes reference to inmate work being "much like slave labour". The department would not agree with this

First Prisoners' Newspaper. It would appear that this publication is intended to replace "Framed" as a vehicle for criticism of the Department. Requests for suggestions for the name of the newspaper is at odds with the stated name, The Australian Prisoners' Newspaper

The History of the prisoners Vote. No issues of concern identified

By Justice Action 15 April 05

Related:

Elections:

REPORT: AUSTRALIAN PRISONERS' ELECTION NEWSPAPER
There was high drama as the only state prisons department in Australia to refuse the The Australian Prisoners' Election Newspaper, was challenged in an emergency hearing before the NSW Supreme Court.

'HOW TO VOTE' MATERIAL BANNED
Australian voters have been blocked from receiving 'how to vote' material from the political parties.

Emergency Supreme Court action for prisoners' vote
Renowned constitutional lawyer, George Williams QC, assisted by Ben Zipser of Selborne Chambers and Joanne Moffit of Kingsford Legal Centre will argue for the right of prisoners to receive voting information in the form of The Australian Prisoners' Election Newspaper. The newspaper has been banned by the prisons commissioner, Mr. Ron Woodham. No explanation has been given.

RE: URGENT - Prisoner enrolment to vote!
Justice Action has been talking to the Australian Electoral Commission over the past three weeks about what steps were being taken to ensure that prisoners were given the opportunity to enrol to vote in the Australian Election on October 9.

Prisoner's right to vote attacked again!
On the eve of the election the Howard government has rushed a new law into the Parliament which will further remove the rights of prisoners to vote.

Howard wants prisoner vote ban
Politicians opposed to a federal government plan to ban all prisoners from voting were soft on crime, Special Minister for State Eric Abetz said.

Govt moves to strip prisoners' voting rights
The Australian Council for Civil Liberties has condemned a Federal Government move to stop prisoners voting. Under current laws, prisoners serving less than five years can vote.

Message of Solidarity: Greens
The Australian corrections system is appalling and rife with abuse of prisoner's rights. The spiralling numbers of those locked up, now over 23,000, is an indictment on a society which purports to be fair and democratic.

Prisoners must get right to vote, says court
UK: The government will be forced to lift a ban on prisoners voting dating back to 1870 after the European court of human rights ruled yesterday it breached a lifer's human rights.

Fighting for Florida: Disenfranchised Florida Felons Struggle to Regain Their Rights US: TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Gov. Jeb Bush looked out over a roomful of felons appealing to him for something they had lost, and tried to reassure them.

Felons and the Right to Vote One of the greatest achievements of the civil rights struggle was the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which removed most of the obstacles that kept African Americans away from the ballot box and enabled Americans who did not speak English to vote. But the voting rights movement never reached the last excluded segment of our democracy: our prisoners.

Prisons:

MORE PRISONERS LOCKDOWNS HAVE OFFICERS ON EDGE
NSW POLICE Commissioner Ken Moroney has issued an ultimatum as well, to the lawless youths holding Sydney's streets to ransom?: Learn some respect or face jail?

Tough line on crime fills jails
The tough law-and-order policies of governments around the nation are behind an explosion in the prison population by almost 80 per cent in the past two decades.

LEGAL VISITS AT PARKLEA PRISON
I am a prisoner in NSW and I am currently held in Parklea Prison. I am concerned about what is going on in NSW prisons and this is my story.

Parklea Prison: No calls for six days
The last calls that were made out of Parklea Correctional Complex by my partner, an inmate in remand at Parklea, was on Wednesday 2 February. The phone lines for the inmates have been out of service to this date.

Prison visits in crisis in NSW
The reason I am writing today is to address a difficult situation that my husband and my family are going through. My husband is currently serving a sentence at Lithgow Correctional Centre in NSW.

Prison boom will prove a social bust
Hardened criminals are not filling NSW's prisons - the mentally ill and socially disadvantaged are, writes Eileen Baldry.

The prison system requires assiduous oversight
As NSW Attorney General Bob Debus noted in 1996: "The kinds of complaints which occur in the system may seem trivial to outsiders but in the superheated world of the prison, such issues can produce explosive results."

Crime and Punishment
Mark Findlay argues that the present psychological approach to prison programs is increasing the likelihood of re-offending and the threat to community safety.

Justice Denied In NSW Corrective Services
There used to be a (VJ) or Visiting Justice who would go into the prison and judge any claim or accusation that was made by any prisoner or prison guard. If it were found that a prisoner had offended then punishment was metered out.

Prison guards test positive for drugs
NSW prison visitors banned from using the toilet The visit is only for about one hour and any thing less than that is an insult. If it's proved that a visitor has broken the rules the punishment should apply to them. But collective punishment on all visitors should not be made general when others haven't broken the rules especially if it restricts all visitors from normal human needs like using a toilet.

NSW prison visitors banned from using the toilet
The New South Wales Government has introduced several initiatives to stop contraband getting into prisons they said last Friday. But under the guise of "stricter rules" the department had also introduced banning all visitors including children from using the toilet unless they terminate their visit at any NSW prison after using the toilet.

Watchdogs slaughtered in NSW
On Tuesday the Carr Government reduced transparency and accountability yet again and New South Wales is in danger of becoming entrenched with cronyism and intimidations with the Carr Labor Government that continues to slaughter the watchdogs.

NSW A-G moves to stop criminals and ex-criminals selling stories

From next month criminals or ex-criminals who try to profit (earn a living for paid work, like writing a book etc..) from their crimes in New South Wales will have the proceeds confiscated.

That is to suggest that the community doesn't profit from criminals' or ex-criminals' telling their story. How can that be? Only the ignorant would undermine the truth about what led to the crime and how to prevent that crime down the track...That is, unless you want to become the next victim!

As well as the fact that if what led to the crime was NOBLE CAUSE CORRUPTION perpetrated by the Government and its law enforcement agencies then that is also COVERED UP...That is, unless you want to become the next victim!

NSW Attorney-General Bob Debus says the move is to stop publications similar those written by Mark "Chopper" Reid making money for criminals.

But to blanket ban all paid work for, writing a book, or giving and interview on television, to inform the general public about criminal stories, or what led to the crime, all because of one unpopular case or person is again, ignorant to the benefit gained by having the knowledge of the predisposing factors that led to a crime, being known.

If the community doesn't know or isn't aware of the predisposing factors that led to a crime, then crime prevention is the casualty here.

Debus says the State Government will move to have any money made taken off the criminal and put into a victim's fund.

Mr Eric McCormack Senior Executive Officer of the NSW Justice Advocacy Centre said " When are people not criminals? Oppressive laws that attack an under class and prevent rehabilitation can only lead to huge dole cues and considerably more crime. He said".

The community questions ICAC's slagging and fobbing you off?

Concerns have been raised about the investigative capacity of the New South Wales Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC), after revelations that a large number of people it has found to have acted corruptly have never been prosecuted in the courts.

Who is bad?

You wouldn't suppose the Police Integrity Commission is just kinder letting of some steam in that big pressure cooker on government hill would you?

By Or Wellian 13 Jan 03

Ed: If the the ex-criminal has to write a book that takes time and why shouldn't that time be taken into account? That is say that ex-criminals should not have a living wage or a job?

Related:

NSW Govt criticised over criminal justice record
Key criminal justice groups have described the New South Wales Government's record on justice issues as a "disappointing performance".

APPOINTMENT OF KLOK IS: 'DECLARATION OF WAR'
The decision of the Carr government to appoint John Jacob Klok as the new Assistant Commissioner for Corrective Services in charge of security represents a statement of contempt to all those concerned about law and justice in NSW.

How NSW Dept of Corrective Services spent $800,000 dollars to rehabilitate a Sydney man sentenced to life for second murder! A spokesperson for Justice Action Mr Pro Grams said, "Well it's your money, how would you like it spent? And what do you think about rehabilitation on behalf of the Department of Corruptive Services?

Prisoners Representatives Excommunicated
Ron Woodham, Commissioner Corrective Services stated "[this Department] does not recognise Justice Action as an advocate on correctional centre issues." He has ordered a ban on all Justice Action material inside the NSW prison system. This resulted from a request for the approval of the latest edition of Framed (the Magazine of Justice Action) to be distributed throughout NSW prisons as has occurred for the past ten years.

Academic devises scheme for low income earners to pay back fines:
A professor at the Australian National University [another one of John Howard's hand picked losers like Peter Saunders the social services head-kicker has come up with a scheme which could see low income earners pay back criminal fines over a period of time.

Dept of Corrective Services: Rotten Ron Woodham on the ropes
This is The Freeedom Of Speech and The Press in a goldfish-bowl! Herr Goebells has spoken. Zieg Heil! (Which means, actually: "aim-for health!" incidentally)Apologies for not making meetings ... my first experiences with Woodham (then a -screw-gestapo-minor-with-a-friendly-dog - AND YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS WHEN EVEN HIS DOG DOESN`T LIKE HIM?)

At the Minister's Pleasure The case of Michael Kelly
Michael is caught up in a particularly cruel version of the game of Cat and Mouse. Because he is classified as a forensic patient under the Mental Heath Act of NSW, the Minister for Health is his master, not the Minister for Corrective Services. And the Minister for health will not let him go.

EX-PRISONER UNEMPLOYMENT: SENTENCED FOR LIFE
Name removed by request served time in prison decades ago. Shes still being punished today. According to commonwealth and state legislation, ex-prisoners applying for jobs must declare any conviction that fits into the following categories: less than 10 years old, more than 10 years old but served more than 30 months in prison.

ARE YOU INNOCENT?
The Australian Law Reform Commission had recommended that the Innocence Panel be independent and have the power to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice.

NSW Department of Corrective Services attack right to privacy
Corrective Services Minister Richard Amery has a problem attacking prisoners right to privacy.It seems to us that a civil society is best served when social justice laws are applied to all people regardless of their circumstances. Once government starts making exceptions which disadvantage certain groups and individuals, such laws are meaningless.

Litigants are drowning: in the High Court
There were so many self represented litigants appearing in the High Court that more than half of its registry staff's time was taken up in dealing with them. The "go it alone" litigants have to take on tasks well above their qualified league causing them stress. This growing problem cannot be left unchecked.

Everyone wants to get out of 'jail' but 'Framed' wants life: Rotten Ron on the ropes On 2 May 2002, Justice Action received a faxed letter from Manager of DCS Operations Support Branch saying that, in his view, articles in Framed edition #42 'lack balance and integrity' and he is therefore 'not prepared to recommend this issue of Framed for placement in to correctional centre libraries.' Prisoners and those concerned about prisoner issues have very few sources of information.

Methadone addicts formed within: 'NSW Prisons'
The New South Wales Opposition has accused the State Government of turning jailed heroin users into Methadone addicts.

Murder charge first for DNA data bank link, but not the same as solving the murder Mass DNA testing of prisoners has [allegedly] led to the first NSW case of a person being charged with a previously unsolved murder as a result of a controversial gene-matching data bank.

Medical Records: Alex Mitchell's lost world
Perhaps we can get your medical report and spew it around publicly so you can see how it feels. But surely we do not have to go that far. And of course we are law-abiding citizens and I should think it would be enough to remind you of your ethics to report at all.

Prisoners can prove innocence for $20?
Les Kennedy Daily Telegraph reported today that" Prisoners who believe that DNA will prove they were wrongly convicted will have the chance to prove their innocence for a mere $20 administration fee. The move comes 20 months after NSW inmates were asked to provide DNA for comparison with a databank of DNA from unsolved crime scenes for possible convictions.

NSW opposition pledges review of detention laws
A spokesperson for Justice Action Ms Anal Advice said " NSW Prisons are a sex offence if you have been raped, bashed and squatted down to be strip searched. People should be diverted from going there at all material times".

Civil libertarians condemn planned changes to prisoners' privacy rights The New South Wales Government is using a recent case involving [framed] serial killer Ivan Milat to justify its decision to remove the privacy rights of prisoners. But really just another attack on Ivan Milat from Parliament House.

RESTORING TRUE JUSTICE:
Australian prisons are fast becoming the new asylums of the third millennium. The prison industry is booming, while Australia spends far less on mental health services than similar countries.

The punishment: Is the 'crime'
The punishment is the crime according to retired chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia Justice Alistair Nicholson. "Smacking a child ought to be seen as assault".

Mr. & Mrs. Mandatory Sentencing
Well congratulations to the bride and groom. Could you please be upstanding and raise your glasses for Mr. And Mrs. Mandatory.

Just wipe your arse on Ivan again Minister?
Mr Amery Minister for Corrective services has a problem with finding a toilet roll to wipe his bottom. Justice Action is appalled at the attacks by Amery and others in parliament on Ivan Milat's right to privacy and their attacks on the Privacy Commissioner and his office.

NSW prisons - primary industry bailed up!
In many quiet regional centres around NSW there is a new primary industry shaping up. It has something to do with Bail but not with bales. The minister for Agriculture Richard Amery who also has the prisons portfolio is now committed to farming prisoners.

NSW Parliament Bitter Pills To Swallow?
One delusion pill: So people who investigate their own mistakes make sure there was no mistake or someone else made the mistake. Perhaps you're not biased and you will be honest about it.

The Government is likely to abolish the Inspector General of Corrective Services position The Mulawa inspection report recommendations below strictly illustrate how important he is.

Black Nexus
The Separation of Powers Doctrine is nowcontaminated witharangeofcolours, now leaving us with a black shirt on a once blue bridge that crossed that thin blue line. The 'Amery and Woodham show'.

Prison Mind Games-Do they exist?
Directives are given inside the prison system that are not consistent with the law in NSW. And not in the good interests of the health and well being of the prisoners.

Chronology - A History of Australian Prisons
[Allegedly:] The events that have shaped NSW prisons - from convict days through royal commissions, to the Supermax of today. [I say allegedly because no one should trust Four Corners [Walls], why? Because they spill out the propaganda of the day for the Government, whether it be wrong or right. A government that lies and has no remorse about it.]